Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and its subsidiary the FAA Tree Group, condemn the proposed destruction of trees included in Transport Malta’s ‘Central Link’ project to upgrade the road between the Mrieħel Bypass and the Saqqajja roundabout in Rabat.
This is supposedly being done in order to ease traffic congestion, when Maltese traffic experts have for years highlighted that international studies prove that increasing roads only encourages more cars on the roads.
While Ministry of Transport officials claim that the majority of the trees are to remain in place in a centre strip, the actual plans approved by the Planning Authority show that 79% of the 586 trees in the area are to be removed.
These trees are around one hundred years old, and some could be much older as it is recorded that trees were planted on the Grandmasters’ route from San Anton Palace to Mdina. Along with the protected dry stone walls that line the road, these trees form part of Malta’s most loved vistas – that of the Mdina skyline which has been painted by artists for centuries, and has featured in films like ‘The Malta Story’. No civilised Western country would ever contemplate such destruction of national heritage and undermining of their tourism product – it is the equivalent of running a motorway through the Cotswold villages, to Assisi or to Mont Saint Michel.
FAA is similarly dismissive of the Ministry’s talk of transplanting trees “Aleppo Pines do not take to transplanting, and experience has shown that Malta lacks the maintenance ethos that such a long-term operation requires”.
Creating a parallel road with the trees as a centre strip would destroy more agricultural land, and the widening of the road from the Mount Carmel roundabout to Saqqajja hill is considered unnecessary as much of that road (up to the chapel) is already wide enough and indeed was marked as three or four lanes in the past. Furthermore, users of this road maintain that there is no need to widen Saqqajja Road as the main bottle-neck is the Attard junction to Zebbuġ. Other options to reduce traffic congestion include Triq it-Tiġrija which has been abandoned for decades; once upgraded it would directly connect the southern villages to Rabat and Mosta, bypassing most of Mdina Road and avoiding the uprooting of a considerable number of the trees.
FAA maintains that the answer to Malta’s traffic problems lies not in creating new roads but in providing an efficient and reliable public transport network. Trees are our only means of reducing Malta’s high rate of air pollution which contributes to many serious health problems; Professor Maria Attard, director of the University’s Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development emphasises: “The few green spots (trees) along streets should be used to reduce the impact of air pollution, not be removed.”
Malta has lost 480 trees to development this year, and the public expressed its disgust through FAA’s petition which drew a record of 1,000 objections to the Planning Authority in less than 24 hours, protesting the destruction of 500 more trees in the Marsa/Sta Lucia road project. We cannot stand by and watch our precious trees being destroyed. Members of the public who wish to do something tangible to stop this destruction are urged to join the FAA Tree Group at http://faa.org.mt/join/
